New Player Questions on RQG (Pavis)

[Nathaire]

Hi, folks. Some background... I would consider myself "new" to Glorantha despite having read the old "Introduction to the Hero Wars" book, HQG, and RQ Classic. There is just so much to the setting. It's a lot to take in.

Recently a friend picked up the new RQ books hoping to run a game very similar in tone to the old Conan the Barbarian movie. Having only read through RQ Classic, I had suggested that RuneQuest might be what he was looking for. But I didn't expect him to go right out and pick up the new edition.

I think he likes the game, but he is a bit confused by some of the magic systems and has indicated that a clan-based game set in Dragon Pass is not really what he's going for. I thought maybe a "scum of the earth" sort of game set in Pavis might be more in line with his goals -- is this sort of play really supported in the new RQ? It seems very easy to do in RQ Classic. Are there any web resources I could point him to that would help? Are the old Pavis books compatible with the new edition?

Thank you all in advance for the help. I've lurked on these forums for a long time and I've always been impressed by the quality and friendliness of the community.

[French Desperate WindChild]

hello

From my perspective runequest can be played with strong social activities (such as be in a clan, do thing for a clan, etc..) and / or be played as lone adventurers.

For example one character may be a clan X member in Y tribe of Z kingdom, but now is a mercenary elsewhere, has not to follow order from his clan (has they are far from there, etc..)

It is up to the gm to adapt who will ask something to the players.

 

It is true than in rqg, there are, by default, the passions, then loyalty to clan /tribe / family. However, you can play without or play with, but if you never meet someone from the clan that's not an issue. And who decides who you meet if not the gm ?

 

In fact it is more an opportunity: after 10 (in game) years of mercenaries/adventures/ conan like group, one pc meet someone of her clan who explained her the clan has big difficulties with (what you want). It can be seen as another hook to introduce a scenario.

 

the only point to focus is to select the scenario: there are scenarios based on one clan life, social/politics about it etc.. but that's the scenario. Not the world, not the rules. Your friend is "free" to introduce clan or not.

[jajagappa]

54 minutes ago, Nathaire said:

I think he likes the game, but he is a bit confused by some of the magic systems and has indicated that a clan-based game set in Dragon Pass is not really what he's going for. I thought maybe a "scum of the earth" sort of game set in Pavis might be more in line with his goals -- is this sort of play really supported in the new RQ? It seems very easy to do in RQ Classic. Are there any web resources I could point him to that would help? Are the old Pavis books compatible with the new edition?

Yes, you can absolutely run a game that is based on a "non-clan" approach. The RQ Classic Pavis books support this very well and you can use them with minimal effort with RQG (there may be slight advantages for PC's due to Rune/Passion augments, but you can simply add what you consider relevant Runes/Passions to NPC's, marginally bump up their skills, or add additional NPCs (which always increases the danger to PC's) to keep in line.

To extend the Pavis material, you can also look at Ian Thomson's Pavis works in Jonstown Compendium which keep the flavor of the original material. See: New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever

Other works set in Pavis or the Big Rubble include: Drew Baker's Rubble Redux series, see: Rubble Redux: Insula of the Rising Sun and Jon Hunter's Rubble Runner books, see: Rubble Runners

Another good option is the Sandheart series which is in Sun County close to Pavis and has lots of episodic adventurers. See: Sandheart: Tales of the Sun County Militia

It all comes down to GM style of play and player interest. 

[Nathaire]

Thank you all for the help. I see that the Borderlands & Beyond book is on sale on the Chaosium site. Would you recommend the adventures in that book to a bunch of new RQG players looking for a mercenary-style campaign?

[g33k]

14 minutes ago, Nathaire said:

Thank you all for the help. I see that the Borderlands & Beyond book is on sale on the Chaosium site. Would you recommend the adventures in that book to a bunch of new RQG players looking for a mercenary-style campaign?

Absolutely!
It is in large part designed to be an entryway both to the game and to the setting.

[jajagappa]

2 hours ago, Nathaire said:

I see that the Borderlands & Beyond book is on sale on the Chaosium site.

You can either get that one, or the RQ Classic Borderlands book (also available at the Chaosium site). See: RuneQuest RPG - RuneQuest Scenarios - RuneQuest Classic - RuneQuest Classic - PDFs - Chaosium Inc.

Borderlands & Beyond combined the original Borderlands, Plunder, and Rune Masters books. 

Borderlands is a set of 7 consecutive scenarios focused on establishing a fort at the edge of the Wastes.

The Pavis and Big Rubble works would also provide details for that city and the large ruins beside it.

[JRE]

Just as a note, Runequest fits better with the Conan books, rather than comic and film. So Conan wears armour, uses a shield often, and only part of the time has to fight almost naked, mainly because someone interrupted him in an intimate moment... And you need to be quite skilled to be able to fight against several enemies at the same time, though it is easier in this edition than in the previous ones. Magic makes it easier, but also boosts enemies.

 

[soltakss]

On 6/11/2023 at 3:16 PM, Nathaire said:

I thought maybe a "scum of the earth" sort of game set in Pavis might be more in line with his goals -- is this sort of play really supported in the new RQ? It seems very easy to do in RQ Classic.

Yes, that is eminently doable in RQG. The reason I say that is that RQG is very similar to RQ2 and our RQ2 Campaign involved a lot of scumming of the earth in Pavis.

On 6/11/2023 at 3:16 PM, Nathaire said:

Are the old Pavis books compatible with the new edition?

RQ2's Pavis and the Big Rubble are close enough, reprinted as part of RuneQuest Classics.

HeroQuest's Pavis is good for background, with a bit of conversion.

Don't forget Ian Thomson's excellent P&BRC series, now available on the Jonstown Compendium. That supports scum of the earth play very well.